Asking Twice
by ann no aku
Summary: Martha and the Doctor stop off in London sometime in early 2005 to capture a rogue monster. Rose/Ten


**Asking Twice**

ann no aku

**Plot: **Martha and the Doctor stop off in London sometime in early 2005 to capture a rogue monster. Rose/Ten

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Doctor Who.

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"Well, how'd it get to Earth?" Martha demanded, pulling her hair out the collar of her red jacket.

"Ah, didn't I mention that it can sorta, er, _apparate_?" he squeaked, a guilty look on his face.

"What? Like Harry Potter?"

"Eh, no. With a name like Blaarg, you can't compare it to Harry Potter!"

"But you said '_apparate_'!" she reminded. A shudder ran down her spine. Martha hadn't forgotten the nasty sting the Blaarg had given her.

"More like . . .appear places," the Doctor amended with a shrug, not meeting her stare.

"Like the TARDIS?"

"Like that movie The Jumper with-with," he clicked his fingers impatiently. "Oh, what's-his-name? Pretty boy? Whiny? Ring a bell?"

"The only pretty boy I know is you," she retorted with a snort.

"Oi!"

"Come on, Doctor. Let's catch this sucker thing and get it over with." She hesitated at the door, waiting for the Doctor.

"Never gets old, does it?" he asked, misreading her trepidation. "New world, different time." The Doctor grinned manically. "Let's go meet-"

"-London," Martha lamely finished once the doors swung open on the ship. "I thought you said the TARDIS was tracking the Blaarg . . .thing."

"It did! It must've come here!" He pulled out a pair of walkie-talkies and a rather medieval looking stun gun from his transdimensional pockets. "Okay, let's spilt up. We can't risk it trying to breed with anyone else."

"Don't remind me. I'm still nauseas." Martha forced a smile, which ended up more like a grimace. She watched him curiously for a minute; he appeared to be lost in thought.

"2005," he finally announced, breaking the silence.

"Is it?" she inquired. "That can't be good. What if I run into my former self or something?"

After a moment's pause that did not go unnoticed, he grinned at her again. Martha couldn't help but to see that it didn't meet his eyes. "Oh, you'll be fine! Just don't go anywhere familiar!"

"Okay," she slowly replied, still studying him for any signs of uncertainty. "And call me if you find it, Doctor!" she called after him as he hastily wandered off. "I know I don't want to be the one to . . .ugh." Again, she shuddered, thinking of the unnaturally large sucker-stinger.

For a minute, her feet stayed rooted to the spot. The Doctor's strange expression consumed her thoughts. Why had he looked like that? She racked her brain, furiously trying to work out why 2005 was so important.

It hit her harder and far more painfully than the Blaarg's attempt to mate with her. How many times had she heard the Doctor recount his meeting with Rose? Even as jealousy and irritation flooded through her, she could recall the story verbatim (it didn't help that she hung on his every word, either). It was 2005, she worked in a shop, mannequins came to life, her shop blew up—or something stupid like that.

Frankly, Martha Jones couldn't care less about how the Doctor met his precious Rose. But part of her wanted to see the woman he held in such high esteem. And, judging by the Doctor's face, they probably landed before they met—meaning that Rose Tyler was walking around alive somewhere. The idea disturbed her more than the memory of the Blaarg.

She allowed her feet to do the walking, taking her to where she suspected the Rose worked. It wasn't difficult to figure out. The news had had a field day with the explosion of Henrick's and the shop-window dummies coming to life. Martha knew that maybe it was wrong. She knew that she should just look for the Blaarg like originally planned and let it rest.

But she couldn't. Not when every time the Doctor looked at her, she _knew_ he was seeing Rose. _Rose_, she thought bitterly, _she's probably beautiful, elegant, and so completely _un_human to capture him._

"Rose!" a voice called out, interrupting her thoughts. Martha diverted her attention to the tall, black man wearing a football jersey over baggy jeans. He was leaning against his car with his arms folded over his chest.

A short, tarty-blonde girl turned around. From her distance, Martha couldn't quite see her face, but what she could see she was shocked that _chav_ could be her.

"Wha'?" she yelled back, tucking her hair behind her ears, revealing large hooped earrings.

"Don' forget that me an' the boys are goin' down to the pub tonight to watch the game. Bring Shareen or wha'ever."

"Bye, Mickey!" She smiled at him, heading into the store.

That confirmed it. Martha remembered the Doctor mentioning Mickey, Rose's boyfriend, a couple of times. And each time, there was a slight possessive tone to his voice.

Without considering the would-be consequences, Martha plowed on forward, following the chav shop girl into Henrick's. She didn't hesitate, refused to think, in case either would stop her from her mission.

Upon entering, she pretended to browse a bit while discreetly searching for Rose. A heavily made-up, tight T-shirt wearing, big mouthed employee walked over to her. After staring for a bit, Martha realized it was rose, despite her not bearing a nametag. "May I 'elp you?" she asked, and Martha had to suppress a giggle.

_God_, she thought, _does she really talk like that? This can't be her._ "No, I'm just looking." _And that eyeliner!_

"Well, let me know if ya need anythin', yeah?"

Inspiration shot through her. What if the Doctor never met Rose? "Wait."

Rose faced her again. "Yeah?"

"I'm just curious," she started quickly, nervous. "Have you heard anything about this . .strange man kidnapping girls?"

"No. You a cop, then?" she questioned, refolding some shirts on a shelf. Her tone was innocent enough, but Martha knew it was accusatory.

"No." Instantly, she realized her mistake. She didn't have a plan or anything. Mentally, Martha cursed herself. Trying to repair the damage, she cleared her throat and said her lie as convincingly as possible. "I-It's just that my cousin, Adeola, was, er, killed. Presumably by this man. He promises to take you to all these places and then just kills you!"

"'m sorry," Rose apologized, pausing in her work to shoot Martha a sympathetic look.

"Yeah, so I just thought I'd spread the warning." She flapped her arms uselessly at her side, wondering if her words would stay with the bimbo.

"What's 'e look like?"

"Er, tall and-" But before she could finish, her walkie-talkie crackled to life in her pocket.

"Martha! Martha! I found it. Stay put. I'll come for you in a jiffy—well, I say jiffy, but I really mean a bit. Anyway, it's almost-" A loud screech and gurgling interrupted him. "Bad Blaarg! Bad! Now stay, stay!"

She turned crimson from all the stares she received and hastily made to turn down the volume. "Sorry, that's my, er . ."

"Boyfriend?"

"Yeah, and pet. Well, sorta. Um, can you show me to the Jo Malone bath oils?" Martha had a bad feeling that if the Doctor were to find her talking with Rose that he'd probably leave her in 2005. She needed to ensure the he wouldn't see them talking.

Still, in barely under twenty minutes, the Doctor burst into the shop (locating her from the walkie-talkie) and called out her name.

"Hey, is that your boyfriend lookin' for ya?" Rose asked, pointing to the doorway.

"What?" She followed her gaze. "Yeah. I wonder why he didn't call me." Martha trembled at the thought of the Blaarg nearby.

""He's kinda cute."

Martha resisted the urge to say, "He's mine, so back off".

"Martha! We gotta go!" he yelled once finding her.

"Why? What happened?" she demanded, running over to him, arms laden with soaps and oils.

"Because it," he stopped short. "You've been shopping!"

"Yeah? So?"

"You were supposed to be looking for the Blaarg!"

"Well, you had it, didn't you? Besides, I wasn't gonna get stung again!"

"I can't believe you! You abandoned me!" The Doctor sounded hurt and offended. He even slumped a little.

"It was your idea to split up!"

"Yes, and now it vanished again, with my walkie-talkie! I loved that walkie-talkie! I got it from Einstein, you know!"

"You ready to check out, yeah?" Rose came over to the loud couple. She looked at them, waiting when neither answered.

Trying not to look to guilty, Martha glared at the Doctor. "Can I get these, then, or are we gonna wait for the Blaarg to come back?"

"No, we don't have the time," he managed to choke out, unable to look anywhere except at Rose. "Come on, Martha."

He didn't offer his hand.

"Sorry," Martha whispered while pawning off all her goods to Rose.

"'s okay. Thanks for the warnin'."

Martha nearly sighed loudly in relief when the Doctor didn't question about the warning Rose referenced. She smiled to herself as they left together, pleased about what she had accomplished. Perhaps if she had been paying attention to the Doctor, Martha would have seen the lover's stare the two shared. But she couldn't bring herself to care about anything at that moment. She won. Rose wasn't going to travel with the Doctor now. He doesn't ask twice.

"Martha," he began after a while, "did I ever tell you that I had to ask Rose to come with me twice?"

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_I hope you enjoyed this story! I am not a fan of Martha Jones in anyway, despite how this story may seem. It is told from third person limited, an insight to Martha's secret thoughts about Rose. If you liked, leave a review!_

_~ann no aku_


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